Merchants Community Bus Transit, Inc
1927 Mack xxxxx: ???-??? (Nine buses total; three with a six cylinder engine, six with a four cykinder engine)

Third Avenue Railway System
1929 White Motor Company 54A: 500-509 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)
1931 White Motor Company 54A: 510-560 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)

Merchants Community Bus Transit, Inc
1927 Mack xxxxx: ???-??? (Nine buses total; three with a six cylinder engine, six with a four cykinder engine)

Third Avenue Railway System
1929 White Motor Company 54A: 500-509 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)
1931 White Motor Company 54A: 510-560 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)

Merchants Community Bus Transit, Inc
1927 Mack xxxxx: ???-??? (Nine buses total; three with a six cylinder engine, six with a four cykinder engine)

Third Avenue Railway System
1929 White Motor Company 54A: 500-509 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)
1931 White Motor Company 54A: 510-560 (11 buses of unkown number were diverted to affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan)

Seen sometime in the extremely early forties in route on the number H White Plains/Yonkers line is fleet # 506 - a 1929 38 passenger White Motor Company modeled as a 54A and one of sixty-one likenesses numbered between 500 and 560 delivered in increments in 1929 and 1931 to Third Avenue Railway System (TARS) affiliate Westchester Street Transportation Company of Mount Vernon, New York.

Note 1; the record should reflect that #'s 500 to 509 arrived in 1929 and #'s 510 to 560 in 1931.
Note 2; eleven of these buses (numbers unknown) were diverted immediately upon delivery to TARS affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan.

White's 54A conventional chassis, the first for the company with an in house model 1A six cylinder gasoline engine, was extremely successful in spite of the rapid rise of Twin Coach's ground breaking model 40 of the same period and sold over 700 to transit and parlor car operators across the country between 1929 and 1938.

What TARS 54A's that were not sold or scrapped before the war lasted until the arrival of hundreds of new Mack and GM coaches thereafter.

Photo courtesy of 'Lemonade Squeeze' and is available at ebay as item # 191109480457.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

S-60 To Smith Haven Mall,

In regard to Westchester Street Transportation # 506 within;

I don't see it and it's siblings 500 to 505 and 507 to 509 from 1929 listed on the roster and as long as you're doing that you might as well add what followed in 1931 and 1934 as seen below;

Seen sometime in the extremely early forties in route on the number H White Plains/Yonkers line is fleet # 506 - a 1929 38 passenger White Motor Company modeled as a 54A and one of sixty-one likenesses numbered between 500 and 560 delivered in increments in 1929 and 1931 to Third Avenue Railway System (TARS) affiliate Westchester Street Transportation Company of Mount Vernon, New York.

Note 1; the record should reflect that #'s 500 to 509 arrived in 1929 and #'s 510 to 560 in 1931.
Note 2; eleven of these buses (numbers unknown) were diverted immediately upon delivery to TARS affiliate Surface Transportation System of New York for service in Bronx and Manhattan.

White's 54A conventional chassis, the first for the company with an in house model 1A six cylinder gasoline engine, was extremely successful in spite of the rapid rise of Twin Coach's ground breaking model 40 of the same period and sold over 700 to transit and parlor car operators across the country between 1929 and 1938.

What TARS 54A's that were not sold or scrapped before the war lasted until the arrival of hundreds of new Mack and GM coaches thereafter.

Photo courtesy of 'Lemonade Squeeze' and is available at ebay as item # 191109480457.

Mr. Linsky - Green Bus Lines, Inc., Jamaica, New York

S-60 To Smith Haven Mall,

In regard to Westchester Street Transportation # 506 within;

I don't see it and it's siblings 500 to 505 and 507 to 509 from 1929 listed on the roster and as long as you're doing that you might as well add what followed in 1931 and 1934 as seen below;

1929 500-509 and 1931 510-560 are listed under Third Avenue Railway System which I placed above Westchester Street Transportation to indercate that Thrid Avenue Railway owned WST, since I was under the impression that the buses were brought by Thrid Aveune Railway.

1929 500-509 and 1931 510-560 are listed under Third Avenue Railway System which I placed above Westchester Street Transportation to indicate that Third Avenue Railway owned WST, since I was under the impression that the buses were bought by Third Avenue Railway.[/quote]

S-60 To Smith Haven Mall,

I didn't notice the separate Third Avenue Railway System listing.

In actuality, all equipment for Westchester Street Transportation was purchased by TARS and, according to the Motor Coach Age roster (October 1970 issue) the Whites in question are listed as WST.

However, if you feel more comfortable listing them otherwise, by all means leave them as they are - just don't forget to add the 1934 order as seen above.

The location of the recurring photo of the route H bus posted most recently 9.23.2014, 5:40 p.m., interests me. The scene is Main Street, Yonkers, with Yonkers' principal department store, Genung's, in the background. The bus has just passed through Getty Square and is westbound on Main Street. Even in 2014, Bee-Line route 5, White Plains to Yonkers, successor to route H, with a jog to follow the #5 trolley route (also owned by TARS) on Nepperhan Avenue, still passes westbound here on Main Street, though Genung's has gone out of business. Today, as in 1942, one finds the bus to White Plains on the parallel Hudson Street. The fare was a zoned total of 35 cents. Now it's $2.50, but $1.25 for seniors, no zones and a free transfer.

At the end of 1946, the Yonkers Herald Statesman printed THIS PHOTO.
It appears to be a demonstrator from Mack, with an intent to buy fifteen. Looking over the Club Transportation roster in this thread, I guess they were not purchased. Which model Mack is this?

I guess that the M. BERNARD GREENBERG in the photo is the same man as owned Avenue B & East Broadway. I wonder when he sold Club Transportation.

Thanks.
Joe

Last edited by N4 Jamaica on Thu Sep 25, 2014 3:07 pm; edited 1 time in total

1929 500-509 and 1931 510-560 are listed under Third Avenue Railway System which I placed above Westchester Street Transportation to indicate that Third Avenue Railway owned WST, since I was under the impression that the buses were bought by Third Avenue Railway.[/quote]

S-60 To Smith Haven Mall,

I didn't notice the separate Third Avenue Railway System listing.

In actuality, all equipment for Westchester Street Transportation was purchased by TARS and, according to the Motor Coach Age roster (October 1970 issue) the Whites in question are listed as WST.

However, if you feel more comfortable listing them otherwise, by all means leave them as they are - just don't forget to add the 1934 order as seen above.

Many regards,

Mr. 'L'[/quote]

That's alright Mr. L. Since the Third Avenue listing was small, I wouldn't be suprised if alot of people missed it. I even will admit that I've forgotten that it's there.

I think the reasoning for the Whites being put under TARS was because I had become confused in the story behind them and I hadn't taken the time to ask for a more clearer explanation of the story.

Because I have been unable to copy the individual photos or link to them individually, I must refer to them by numbers 1 to 24. Several are real puzzles. Let's start with an easy one, the major player in the Liberty Lines, Bernacchia Brothers 50, a battered Mack photographed near Yonkers station. That is photo #2. It is certainly not one of the first buses Bernacchia put into service on their North Yonkers route, extended into the village of Hastings by the late 1930's. Is it a post-war Mack? I think so, but cannot prove it.
---
After TARS trolleys ceased operation in 1952, Bernacchia could straighten out its route to Hastings, using North Broadway all the way, as Bee-Line #6 does today. The earlier route, east of Palisades Avenue, became a separate North Yonkers route, now the northbound side of hourly #9.
---
On another thread, I described what I could learn about the twenty-four photos. Please go to the link below and scroll to my post of June 10, 2014, to see the descriptions:
http://bustalk.info/forum/viewtopic.php?t=4134&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15
Joe

Thanks to the Herculean efforts of S-60 To Smith Haven Mall, the three buses shown below have already been listed under County Transportation Company, Inc. of Westchester but, here again, I thought a little flavor could be added to what we're talking about;

In the top image taken sometime in the 50's we see fleet #120 - a 1941 32 passenger Yellow Coach modeled as a TG-3201 standing at the Harrison Railroad Station and signed for Rye, New York.

Of note on #120 are the two factory installed special lights over the destination sign which would indicate a Connecticut origin and probably from either The Connecticut Company (TCC) or Connecticut Railway and Lighting Company (CR&L) although the livery looks very much like TCC.

In the center image, taken at a company yard again in the fifties, we see fleet #137 - a 1946 36 passenger GM Coach modeled as a TDH-3610 and, with the two special lights attached to the ThermoMatic intake, I would say that #137 has the same beginnings as #120.

In the final frame also taken at a company yard is fleet #121 - a 1944 GM Coach modeled as a TG-3609.

#121, seemingly of the same origins as 120 and 137, is a 'war baby' as noted by the set of side swipe moldings between the forward and aft wheel wells which would indicate a body of thin sheet steel in lieu of heavier aluminum that was directed to the war effort.

All photos courtesy of 'embitt' and are available at eBay as items # 351187643272, 400783418827 and 400783418997 respectively.

Wow! Thank you, Mr. Linsky, for the three fantastic photos of County Transportation Company buses and identifying each model. However, I must suggest that the first photo is not at the Harrison railroad station but rather at Playland amusement park. Only yesterday I visited the Garden City Library to inspect their copy of Arcadia's "Playland' book (Images of America series) for photos of County Transportation at the Playland bus terminal. The book contained everything except what I was looking for. Here you supplied it! Many thanks.
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The tip-off of the location is the style of roof and the destination signs hanging at each platform telling where the buses were going. If I recall correctly the platform closest to the boardwalk (at the left) had a dispatcher's booth and the boarding point for Fordham Transit to Fordham Road, The Bronx, which I rode in the era 1946-1951 or so. At the time, someone explained to me that the dispatcher kept a count of how many passengers each company delivered. At closing time, for example after the Tuesday night fire works and the shutdown of the rides, he would hold the last bus until the departing passengers equaled the total counted at arrival.
On Flickr I also cannot find a bus photo, but a photo of the empty bus platforms is linked HERE. Other views on Flickr show that police cars are kept at the head of the first lane.
---
County Transportation was owned by the New Haven Railroad. This route brought people from Playland to the Rye train station two miles away. Another service provider was Bernacchia Brothers of Yonkers, now seasonal service Bee-Line 91. The last trip this year was September 2.
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Thanks. Joe

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